You have just gotten your bees, either in the mail or you have gone and picked them up in person. Now what do you do? Covers from installation in your hive until the end of the first winter and the first blooms of spring.

I had planned on checking to make sure the queen in the package I installed Friday had made it out of her cage Monday. It was way to windy so I postponed that plan. This morning (5am) while out doing chores I looked over at the hive and decided, in my impatient new beekeeper mentality, to see how she was. It was still dark and 48*f, the bees were lethargic and I was able to verify the queen cage was empty and get things closed back up in about a minute. Is what I did ok?

"If you have never opened a hive in the dark, consider yourself wise or fortunate and don't. The bees are VERY defensive after dark and will attack and cling and crawl on you looking for a way to sting."